NetSuite for Retail is a cloud-based multi-channel retail management solution for retailers that combines e-commerce, POS, and order management functionalities. The software provides a unified retail system with back office management...
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NetSuite for Retail is a cloud-based multi-channel retail management solution for retailers that combines e-commerce, POS, and order management functionalities. The software provides a unified retail system with back office management...
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Pacific Amber’s AmberPOS offers a point of sale software solutions to a variety of retail specialties, ranging from small to midsized, in the United States and Canada.
In addition to point of sale functionality, AmberPOS includes...
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Pacific Amber’s AmberPOS offers a point of sale software solutions to a variety of retail specialties, ranging from small to midsized, in the United States and Canada.
In addition to point of sale functionality, AmberPOS includes...
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Springboard Retail is a web-based retail solution designed for multi-channel and multi-store retailers.
Springboard’s point of sale system is fully accessible through any modern web browser on any device. The solution is designed...
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Springboard Retail is a web-based retail solution designed for multi-channel and multi-store retailers.
Springboard’s point of sale system is fully accessible through any modern web browser on any device. The solution is designed...
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STORIS provides retail software solutions to the home furnishings, bedding and electronics/appliances industry. The complete suite of STORIS includes point of sale, customer service, inventory control, merchandising, accounting, finance,...
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STORIS provides retail software solutions to the home furnishings, bedding and electronics/appliances industry. The complete suite of STORIS includes point of sale, customer service, inventory control, merchandising, accounting, finance,...
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Phorest is a salon management software solution designed for small and midsize businesses that features appointment bookings, point-of-sale, inventory management and reporting. The software offers cloud-based deployment and a salon-branded...
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Phorest is a salon management software solution designed for small and midsize businesses that features appointment bookings, point-of-sale, inventory management and reporting. The software offers cloud-based deployment and a salon-branded...
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Cumulus Retail by CAM Commerce is a Cloud, SaaS based retail management solution that enables small to mid-size retailers to manage their entire business in one system. Cumulus combines point of sale, E-Commerce, back office, and digital...
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Cumulus Retail by CAM Commerce is a Cloud, SaaS based retail management solution that enables small to mid-size retailers to manage their entire business in one system. Cumulus combines point of sale, E-Commerce, back office, and digital...
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Clover is an integrated point-of-sale (POS) system with custom hardware designed for several types of retailers. The program is available in both web-based and server-based deployment versions and offers a mobile POS option in addition...
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Clover is an integrated point-of-sale (POS) system with custom hardware designed for several types of retailers. The program is available in both web-based and server-based deployment versions and offers a mobile POS option in addition...
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iVend Retail is an omnichannel retail management solution that helps businesses manage various aspects of a brick and mortar retail shop and e-commerce store. It covers from point-of-sale (POS) to back office to head office operations....
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iVend Retail is an omnichannel retail management solution that helps businesses manage various aspects of a brick and mortar retail shop and e-commerce store. It covers from point-of-sale (POS) to back office to head office operations....
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Founded in 1986, the retail software suite from Cybex includes point of sale, inventory management, distribution and replenishment, warehouse management, CRM, and e-commerce.
The Cybex Enterprise Retail Suite focuses on information...
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Founded in 1986, the retail software suite from Cybex includes point of sale, inventory management, distribution and replenishment, warehouse management, CRM, and e-commerce.
The Cybex Enterprise Retail Suite focuses on information...
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MultiFlex RMS Fashion & Apparel Software is both a front-end retail POS Software and a back-end financial and inventory management system that integrates and manages both physical and eCommerce operations and can be used to handle...
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MultiFlex RMS Fashion & Apparel Software is both a front-end retail POS Software and a back-end financial and inventory management system that integrates and manages both physical and eCommerce operations and can be used to handle...
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RAPID Gun Systems is an on-premise and accessible through cloud Point-of-Sale solution for gun stores. It caters to firearm retailers and helps them manage compliance and gun store management process. It is suitable for both new and...
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RAPID Gun Systems is an on-premise and accessible through cloud Point-of-Sale solution for gun stores. It caters to firearm retailers and helps them manage compliance and gun store management process. It is suitable for both new and...
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Agiliron cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) solution is designed to serve both in-store and mobile businesses as well as online sales channels. The system offers a host of features that work in tandem with the point-of-sale solution,...
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Agiliron cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) solution is designed to serve both in-store and mobile businesses as well as online sales channels. The system offers a host of features that work in tandem with the point-of-sale solution,...
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Rapid Bev POS is a point-of-sale solution that can be deployed on premise or accessed through the cloud. It's designed to meet the needs of liquor stores, wineries and breweries, with features to track product attributes, ratings and...
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Rapid Bev POS is a point-of-sale solution that can be deployed on premise or accessed through the cloud. It's designed to meet the needs of liquor stores, wineries and breweries, with features to track product attributes, ratings and...
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Spruce software is based in Microsoft Windows and designed around a document management solution. Spruce provides information from point of sale to the integrated general ledger. With drill-down capability throughout the solution,...
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Spruce software is based in Microsoft Windows and designed around a document management solution. Spruce provides information from point of sale to the integrated general ledger. With drill-down capability throughout the solution,...
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POSIM EVO is a point of sale (POS) and inventory management system. The system allows users to choose various add-on integrations and extensions to modify it to the needs of their business. It is a customizable solution and integrates...
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POSIM EVO is a point of sale (POS) and inventory management system. The system allows users to choose various add-on integrations and extensions to modify it to the needs of their business. It is a customizable solution and integrates...
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AXIS Retail Management System is a cloud-based point of sale and inventory management solution for the shooting sports industry. The solution is mainly used by firearms retailers and range operators. Key features include centralized...
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AXIS Retail Management System is a cloud-based point of sale and inventory management solution for the shooting sports industry. The solution is mainly used by firearms retailers and range operators. Key features include centralized...
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Related Software Guides

Buyer's Guide

The retail merchandising software market has become increasingly complex over the past decade. Large ERP vendors and retail specialists have blurred the lines between inventory management, merchandising and supply chain management, making the merchandising market appear much more complex than it really is.

In order to help you navigate your software purchase, we've written this buyer’s guide to help you understand the market and know where to begin your research.

What Is Merchandising Software?

Small and mid-sized retailers can learn a lesson that tier-one retailers have learned the hard way: merchandise planning can and should be a precise science. If not, poor merchandise decisions will usually lead to lost profits. On the most basic level, merchandising software helps retailers plan and execute merchandise operations, including deciding which items to stock, where to stock them, when to promote them and how to price them. It eliminates the guesswork that retailers have been conducting for years, often based on subjective experience and formulas in Excel spreadsheets.

Core features for merchandising systems include pricing engines that help retailers price items based on competitors’ prices, gross profit margins, demand, past sales performance and vendor incentives. Systems also help retailers recognize where given items sell best and under what conditions. Analytical tools help retailers see the impact of their decisions to better plan future merchandising strategies.

Deployment Strategies

Buyers of merchandise management software will essentially have two options: implement a best-of-breed package or a complete retail suite. Best-of-breed buyers will enjoy being able to purchase a merchandising system that exactly matches their needs, while they will face the challenge of integrating it with their existing applications. Integrated suite buyers will like having one, integrated system, while they will face a larger spend and a potentially more complex implementation. The decision will be based largely on retailers’ existing applications, their immediate needs, and their budgets.

Benefits and Potential Issues

Properly implemented merchandise management systems should yield a number of benefits that impact multiple aspects of the enterprise. The most common benefits include the following:

Optimized inventory. Robust analytical tools offer insight into key merchandise decisions, such as: Which items sell the best at which locations? What are the sales rates of items in different seasons? Which inventory mixes and item pairings lead to increased cross-sales? Being able to answer these questions intelligently enables retailers to have the right quantities items on sale at the right time. Cross sales are key sources of profit margin growth as well.

Increased revenue. Due to a better understanding of consumer demand, retailers should be able to maximize revenue by increasing sales of hot-selling items and preventing overstocks of items that move slowly. Integrated item pricing engines help staff price and discount items to leverage buying trends and inventory levels.

Improved efficiency and productivity of staff. Employees in supply chain and merchandising departments should find that formal solutions save them time from performing redundant tasks in Excel and other programs. Having all efforts centralized leads to less wasted time and more effective employees, allowing them them to focus on productive tasks that improve the company.

Improved customer service. Retailers can expect to keep customers happy and keep them returning when they find what they are looking for at the right time. They will also spend less time trying to help find customers out-of-stock or back-ordered items, saving time and reducing buyer frustration.

As with all technology implementations, there are a few potential issues to consider when comparing solutions for retail merchandising. The most common concerns we hear about are related to ease of use and costs. This first risk is a risk common to most enterprise IT implementations. IT purchasers should ensure that the system is not overly complex and should not try to save costs by reducing training. Proper training is essential to merchandise systems and improper training is a large contributor to failed implementations. Like most enterprise systems with robust analytical tools, merchandise systems can be very expensive, but the costs of not having a formal system are very high. Retailers should pay close attention to revenue and profit margin growth after implementing merchandising software to gauge their overall return on investment (ROI). Most enterprise retailers should find that a properly implemented system will lead to a positive ROI.

Market Trends to Understand

Various trends impact the retail merchandising solutions market. The primary trends include the following:

Multi-channel retailing: As retailers have started generating more and more sales outside of traditional brick and mortar establishments, inventory and merchandising needs have become more complex. More rigorous analytical tools have become necessary to enable retailers to plan merchandise offerings and prices effectively across multiple channels.

Eroding profit margins: Retail margins have become notoriously tight over the past decade, forcing retailers to optimize every aspect of the enterprise as much as possible. Overstocks and back orders of popular items are two of the most obvious sources of margin erosion that retailers are aiming to eliminate with merchandising software.

Supply chains as sources of efficiency: In response to the trend of eroding profit margins, retailers have begun to recognize their supply chains as potential sources of margin erosion—and growth. Many retailers are able to actually grow margins by planning, managing and executing their supply chains more efficiently.

Tier one retailers leading by example: As retailers such as Wal-Mart become retail technology leaders, other tier-one and mid-sized retailers naturally follow their example. Software providers have catalyzed this trend by developing retail merchandising systems that suit the needs and budgets of mid-sized companies.

The Merchandising Vendor Landscape

The retail merchandising market becomes much less cluttered when buyers approach it with their respective deployment strategies in mind.

Buyers interested in...

Should evaluate these systems

Vendors who offer merchandising only on a best-of-breed basis

JDA

Vendors who offer merchandising on a best-of-breed basis AND as part of an integrated suite

SAP, Epicor, Jesta Vision

Vendors who offer merchandising only as part of an integrated retail suite

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